GL Tech superintendent job details OK'd

By Sarah Favot, sfavot@lowellsun.com

Updated:
03/08/2013 06:39:22 AM EST

TYNGSBORO -- The next superintendent-director of Greater Lowell Technical High School must have a vocational-technical superintendent-director license or be eligible to apply for that licensure, which requires at least three years of experience in a technical school.

The Greater Lowell School Committee approved at a special meeting Thursday night the required qualifications it is looking for in its next superintendent.

Other qualifications include: a master's degree in education or administration, minimum of 10 years in vocational education teaching and administration and experience with Massachusetts School Building Authority projects, preferred not required.

The licensure requirements are dictated by state law.

The committee decided at its last meeting to set the salary range between $130,000 and $150,000.

The job posting will be advertised in local newspapers and on education job-search websites.

The committee will meet April 10 at 6 p.m. in executive session to discuss the candidates and possibly narrow down the pool of applicants to semi-finalists.

Semi-finalists will be asked if it would be detrimental to their application if their names are made public. If one of the candidates says yes, the semi-finalists names will remain in executive session until the finalists are chosen.

Finalists names will be made public.

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Chairman Victor Olson, of Dracut, warned committee members that they should refer any phone calls they get from interested applicants to Executive Secretary Cheryl Gosselin, who will provide them with an application.

"It would be considered an unfair advantage to discuss anything in detail once this process is started," he said.

One interested candidate, David Norkiewicz, technical director of Shawsheen Technical High School in Billerica, told The Sun he called every School Committee member a couple of weeks ago to find out what they are looking for in a candidate.

"None of them said, 'Hey Dave, we think it's a great idea,' " Norkiewicz said. "They all wished me luck."

Norkiewicz said he has a vocational-technical superintendent license.

"It's a very good chance I'm going to put my hat in the ring," he said.

The deadline to apply is April 4 at 3 p.m.

The committee voted to spend up to $5,000 to advertise for the position.

Olson said, in speaking with Michael Gilbert of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees, he found out three other technical school districts are looking for a new superintendent-director, including North Shore Agricultural and Technical High School on the Danvers/Middleton line and Assabet Valley Regional Technical High School in Marlborough.

The posted salary for the North Shore Agricultural position is $169,000 to $180,000.

"Normally that's not the case, so there'll be some competition in that regard, which is fairly unusual," Olson said.

Committee members said if they do not feel a qualified applicant has applied, they will have to re-advertise.

"The pool is going to be small," said David Tully, of Dunstable. "You don't want to get somebody you have to train. You want to get somebody that's going to train us."

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